Features Chief Judge James F. Holderman, noted jurist and Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program founder, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Magistrate Judge Byron G. Cudmore, Pilot Program participant U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, Judge Peter Flynn, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois and Magistrate Judge Nan R. Nolan, Chair, Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. This year's Moderator, Sean Byrne (Counsel, Project Leadership Associates, and Pilot Program Technology Subcommittee co-chair), will explore Federal and State court judges' thoughts around commonly encountered issues relating to ESI preservation and discovery, suggestions to streamline the discovery process, and how parties can resolve disputes regarding electronic discovery quickly and cost-effectively.

Terri L. Ahrens is an associate in the Chicago office of Drinker Biddle and a member of the firm's Commercial Litigation Group. Terri has experience in a wide-range of cases including contract disputes in the securities and financial services industries, advising life insurers on issues relating to the secondary market for life insurance and enforcement of life insurance policies, distributor contract disputes, employment-related disputes, mortgage foreclosures, and project siting disputes on behalf of a wind energy developer. Terri has handled civil litigation in federal and state courts, as well as disputes between members and associated persons in NASD/FINRA arbitrations.
Before joining the firm, Terri was an associate at the firm of Seward & Kissel LLP in New York City, where her practice focused on general commercial litigation in New York state courts.
Organizations and Affiliations. Terri currently serves as a member of the Electronic Discovery & Data Management Team as well as the Associates Committee at Drinker. She also serves on the Board for the Center for Disability and Elder Law, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the legal rights of low-income persons with disabilities and senior citizens in Cook County.
Terri is a member of the Illinois and New York Bars and is admitted to practice before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
In General. Terri received her J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she was an International Competitor on the Jessup International Moot Court Team and the President of the Student Bar Association. Terri received her bachelor's degree in political science and international studies from Northwestern University, and graduated with departmental honors in political science.

Maureen assists corporate and law firm clients with overall management of their electronic discovery needs. Maureen offers a blend of both academic and practical experience. Specializing in project management for large scale litigation and government investigations, Maureen provides clients with discovery strategies aimed at containing cost, managing difficult deadlines and ensuring a quality product is delivered.
Prior to joining Huron, Maureen was one of eight team members that helped build and manage the document review services company formerly known as Nextra Litigations Solutions, LLC. Nextra was acquired by Huron Consulting Group in 2006. Today, Maureen directs operations for Huron's seven domestic review facilities with the capacity to house over 1000 document review contract professionals.
Maureen has experience as a litigator, serving as an assistant district attorney in North Carolina, as well as representing clients in her work at Legal Aid of North Carolina and the Children's Law Center.
Representative examples of Maureen's engagement experience include:

• Provided project management and consulting services to pharmaceutical and technology industry leaders faced with FTC, SEC and DOJ antitrust investigations. In each circumstance, clients collected in excess of a terabyte of data, with less than 120 days for substantial compliance.
• Providing ongoing consulting and project management services to a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company litigating a multidistrict matter involving fourteen jurisdictions and spanning six years.
• Provided consulting and project management services to a Fortune 100 technology corporation involved in patent litigation with over three terabytes of data to be reviewed within a three month timeframe.

Linda Beaudoin is the Director of eDiscovery Analytics for Daegis. Ms. Beaudoin leads a team that is responsible for the design and implementation of the data analytics process, including consultations with clients, execution of data targeting strategies, improving and developing the process, validation of results, quality control and related documentation. Linda is a longtime member of the EDRM Search Working Group and has written and spoken extensively about a variety of data analytics topics.

Kevin Behan is the Firmwide Litigation Support Manager at Winston & Strawn. In this role, he works with the eDiscovery practice group to assist the firm’s clients in identifying, preserving, and collecting data for use in adversarial proceedings. Additionally, he selects vendors to assist the firm with data collection, processing, and hosting of client data. Mr. Behan is active in various organizations focused on the advancement of eDiscovery processes and litigation support and is a frequent speaker on these topics.

Debra Bernard is a partner in the Commercial Litigation group at Perkins Coie. Debra focuses her practice on Intellectual Property and complex commercial litigation and has worked with businesses ranging from mid-size corporations to FORTUNE 500 companies in a variety of industries. She also has substantial electronic discovery experience both domestically and internationally.
Debra's practice encompasses extensive experience in the litigation and arbitration of all types of intellectual property claims including Lanham Act actions, trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, copyright infringement and patent infringement. Debra also has experience in the litigation and arbitration of tortious interference claims, Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class actions, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims, unfair competition, non-competition covenants, contract disputes, civil RICO actions, antitrust actions, claims under the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act and fiduciary duty claims. Debra has led teams in formulating discovery plans, motion practice and litigation strategy with the ultimate result of successful summary judgment outcomes and/or settlements.

Sean Byrne serves as Litigation Solutions Counsel for Project Leader Associates, the country's largest provider of IT services to the legal industry. He has served as both a litigator and consultant in the e-Discovery space for more than 14 years, advising corporations and law firms on litigation readiness, legal hold implementation, litigation support department operations, and the preservation, analysis and review of ESI. He has worked on an array of matters spanning the globe, from Europe to the Pacific Rim. Prior to joining PLA, Sean honed his craft as a trial attorney and later with the global litigation services groups of two of the world's largest consultancies.
In addition to his duties at PLA, Sean is a member of the Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program, where he serves as co-chair of its Technology Sub-Committee and as a member of its Education and Communication/ Outreach Sub-Committees. He also recently assisted the Association of Electronic Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) create a rigorous certification exam to objectively measure the knowledge and skill of e-discovery practitioners. He was one of the first attorneys in the country to sit for certification, and now holds the CEDS certification as a member of ACEDS’ inaugural class. *
Sean is a member of the Illinois Bar and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Sean received his J.D. degree from The John Marshall Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review and an award-winning competitor on several national and international Moot Court and Mock Trial teams. Sean received his bachelor's degree in political science from Illinois State University. In addition to his CEDS certification, Sean is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.
* Please note that the Supreme Court of Illinois does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law and that it is not a requirement to practice law in Illinois.

John Corey is Regional Manager of eDiscovery for Recommind, Inc.
During the past 20 years, John has focused exclusively on sales and marketing of technology to assist the practice of law; and specifically the discovery process. He has extensive experience in the application of technologies for computer-assisted review, categorization, eDiscovery, document management, and computer-assisted research. In his current role at Recommind, John works with law firms on Predictive Coding adoption and law firm differentiation.

Judge Cudmore has served as a US Magistrate Judge for the Central District of Illinois since September 1, 1997.
Judge Cudmore has issued a number of opinions relating to electronically stored information (ESI) and has spoken on ESI to various county, state, and federal bar associations.
Judge Cudmore was a partner in the law firm of Hinshaw and Culbertson from 1995-1997. Judge Cudmore was a federal prosecutor in the Central District of Illinois from 1986-1995. He served both as First Assistant and as U.S. Attorney. Judge Cudmore was a state prosecutor from 1977-1986.
Judge Cudmore served as the President of the Sangamon County Bar Association in 1991 and the President of the Lincoln-Douglas American Inn of Court in 2000. Judge Cudmore attended the University of Illinois and the Southern Illinois School of Law. Judge Cudmore was born in Canada and is a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

David Deusner is the Director of Litigation Support and eDiscovery Service for Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP. He is responsible for the design and implementation of the firm's litigation support infrastructure and directs firmwide training and education on current trends and topics in eDiscovery. As part of the eDiscovery services offered by the firm, Deusner and his team regularly assist clients with developing and updating electronic records management policies and procedures to ensure they are prepared to deal with issues long before they arise. Those services include advising companies on developing legal holds policies and procedures and strategizing targeted collection practices.
A member of several regional and national groups focused on eDiscovery issues as well as a frequent speaker and lecturer, Deusner has coordinated eDiscovery matters involving construction delays, insurance coverage, trademark and patent infringement, and other complex litigation matters. He provides strategic advice to litigation attorneys, works with case teams to develop eDiscovery budgets and best practices, and oversees the use of third-party vendors for certain eDiscovery services. Through advanced technology solutions and the development of best practices, the department seeks to provide efficient and cost-effective eDiscovery solutions to clients.
David has handled complex e-discovery matters on cases involving terabytes of data and multiple attorney review teams. He has worked on cases in Illinois, California, and Nevada.

Director of Research and Education, Merrill Legal Solutions
Heidi Fessler is an attorney who specializes in educating those in the legal community on legal technology and its impact on the practice of law. A member of the legal community since 1987, she brings an extensive background in civil litigation, experience in legal technology product development and a commitment to professional education to her role as director of research and education for Merrill Legal Solutions.
Prior to joining Merrill, Fessler was employed by Thomson West, a large, multinational corporation that serves the legal community. While at Thomson West, she was influential in the development of many of Thomson West’s most successful products, services and technology tools. She has worked extensively with many trial courts and appellate courts across the nation to give practicing litigators access to valuable court documents. In addition, she has also consulted with attorneys, judges and their staff on the use of technology to maximize effectiveness in their practice or position.
A trial attorney with extensive litigation and appellate experience in both state and federal courts, Fessler has handled a broad range of complex litigation matters including wrongful death, employment and transportation issues. She has also handled litigation management for a large national insurance company, where she was responsible for high exposure matters.
Fessler is an active practicing attorney in Minnesota and is well-versed in the many challenges of the litigation process. She is a member of the Minnesota Bar and the Women in eDiscovery Group, and is also licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and within the federal courts system.
Fessler graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1987 and graduated from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1991.

Jason Fliegel is the Senior Counsel and Director of eDiscovery and Records Management for Abbott Laboratories. Prior to taking that position, he was an attorney at Mayer Brown, where he helped build that firm's eDiscovery and Records Management practice. He has written extensively on electronic discovery issues, and served as Senior Editor on the Sedona Principles.

A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Peter Flynn practiced civil litigation (mostly complex business and commercial cases) for 30 years. He was appointed an Illinois Circuit Judge in 1999, elected in 2000, and retained in 2006. As a judge, he served in the Commercial Calendar section of the Cook County Circuit Court's Law Division from 2000 through 2002, and has served in the Chancery Division since December 2002. He is a member of the American Law Institute. He is a past vice-chair (twice) and chair, and a founding member, of the Chicago Bar Association’s Commercial Litigation Committee. He teaches Illinois Civil Procedure at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He has been a panelist or speaker in numerous judicial education and practitioner CLE programs, focusing most recently on discovery (including e-discovery) concerns. He is a member of the Sedona Conference Working Groups 1 and 2, and a strong proponent of the Sedona Cooperation Proclamation.

Mr. Gifford has practiced labor and employment law and litigation in Central Illinois for over 20 years. Mr. Gifford received his J.D., cum laude, from Southern Illinois University School of Law in December 1980, where he was a Law Review editor, and also served as a Special Investigator for the Illinois Attorney General's Office.
Mr. Gifford regularly advises and represents clients on a wide variety of employment issues, including, hiring, testing, record keeping, discipline and discharge, discrimination, retaliation, collective bargaining and wage and hour matters. He also counsels clients and other attorneys on matters involving all facets of electronically stored information ("ESI"), including forensics, litigation holds and related issues, as well as discovery, production, preservation and retention of ESI, commonly called eDiscovery. Mr. Gifford has worked with clients and counsel on eDiscovery issues in numerous areas of substantive law. Mr. Gifford also writes policies and procedures related to general employment and eDiscovery issues, as well as issues arising from employee use of social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Jim Hanlon is the Director of Client Development for Novus Law LLC, a Chicago-based professional services firm that focuses exclusively on providing corporations and law firms with document management, review and analysis services for litigation, investigations, bankruptcies, HSR second requests, and contract management and administration. Novus Law is unique in that it does its work exclusively on a fixed fee basis and in a collaboration setting using its self-developed UL-certified work processes and a quality control program that is Six-Sigma based and ISO 9001:2008 registered.
Prior to joining Novus Law, Jim was a commercial litigator and an equity partner at Katten Muchin and later at Howrey here in Chicago.

Chief Judge James F. Holderman has been a United States District Judge in Chicago since 1985, and has been the Chief Judge of the Northern District of Illinois since July 1, 2006. During his more than twenty-five years on the bench, Chief Judge Holderman has presided over numerous cases in all areas of federal jurisdiction.
Before his appointment to the United States District Court, Chief Judge Holderman was a partner in the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now SNR Denton), where he specialized in federal court litigation throughout the United States. Before his years in private practice, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago.
Chief Judge Holderman chairs the ABA's Commission on the American Jury, is a founding member of the ongoing Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program, and currently sits on the seven-member board of the Federal Judicial Center, which is chaired by Chief Justice John Roberts and is the education and research arm of the federal judicial system in the United States.

Stuart W. Hubbard has twenty-five years of experience in the legal technology industry. He has spent much of his career in software development, but he is also well known as a consultant, writer, and educator. He is the co-founder of Lawyers Advocate, Inc., a consulting firm and continuing legal education provider based in Denver, Colorado that advises private law firms, corporate legal departments and the courts on all aspects of law office automation, management, and economics. He counts many of the AmLaw 100 among his clients. Stuart was an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, and he completed an M.A. degree and all course work toward a Ph.D. in computational linguistics at the University of Kansas. He has also pursued additional graduate work in computer science at North Carolina State University, and in business at the University of Colorado. He served for many years on the Board of the Denver Paralegal Institute; he is also a member of the Litigation Advisory Board at Thomson-Reuters, the EED Strategic Advisory Board at Merrill Corporation, and the Advisory Board of the Legal Electronic Document Institute, in addition to being active in working groups of The Sedona Conference.
Stuart is a frequent speaker at CLE programs on topics related to law office automation and he has published three books on the technology industry, including "Technology and Law Practice." He currently serves as the Firm-Wide E-Discovery Manager for Schiff Hardin LLP, a national law firm based in Chicago, Illinois.

Elizabeth is a Director of Legal Operations at Motorola Mobility, Inc with 20+ years of corporate legal and law firm experience. In her current role, she sets strategic direction for the use of technology to streamline processes, improve performance and reduce costs.
Ms. Jaworski has more than 10 years of financial and legal technology experience focused on analyzing legal spend and assessing processes and cost saving opportunities within a corporate law department.
Prior to joining the Motorola Mobility Law Department, Elizabeth held similar roles at Motorola, Inc and Sears Holdings Corporation, as Director of Legal Operations.
Elizabeth has a proven track record of identifying strategic cost saving opportunities and capitalizing on those opportunities; In 2011, she instituted three programs with projected cost reduction over $5M. She also has a strong background in developing eDiscovery policies, processes and related cost reduction programs.

Douglas Kaminski is a Director for Clearwell, now a part of Symantec, a recognized Leader in e-discovery and archiving solutions. In this capacity, he works on a regular basis with thousands of legal professionals around the country in both law firms and major corporations. He is frequent speaker and author on e-discovery related topics, a member of the Detroit Bar Association, is on the Advisory Board of the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals.

Susan Kane graduated from the University of WI - Stevens Point with a Bachelors in the Social Sciences. She earned a Paralegal Certificate from Harper College in Palatine, IL.
Susan has been a Paralegal since 1995 and has worked at Motorola since 1999 where she handles Commercial and Patent Litigation.

Paul J. Krause has been in-house Employment Counsel at ArcelorMittal USA in Chicago, Illinois since April 2010. Prior to joining ArcelorMittal, Paul was a Senior Associate in the Chicago office of Littler Mendelson. Throughout his career, Paul has focused exclusively on handling employment litigation matters and advising and counseling clients on all variety of employment laws. Paul has previously participated in CLE panels on the employment law implications related to social media and social networking.

Jay Lieb is the Chief Strategy Officer for kCura Corp.
Jay has more than a decade of experience in the Litigation Support Technology field and leverages his extensive industry knowledge to guide the product management team for the Relativity Platform. His specialties include electronic discovery workflow, document management, software development, emerging technologies, and database design. He has worked in multiple roles on some of the largest electronic discovery projects in the world

David D. Lewis, Ph.D. (www.DavidDLewis.com) is a Chicago-based consulting computer scientist working in the areas of information retrieval, data mining, natural language processing, and their applications in electronic discovery. He was a co-founder of the NIST TREC Legal Track and creator of the first large-scale public test data set for e-discovery. Prior to taking up freelancing in 2000, Dr. Lewis held research positions at AT&T Labs, Bell Labs, and the University of Chicago. He has published more than 75 scientific papers and 8 patents, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006.

Thomas A. Lidbury is a partner in the Drinker Biddle Commercial Litigation Practice Group. He has extensive experience trying cases, including winning a $160 million jury verdict and arguing appeals in state and federal court. Tom addresses a broad spectrum of client needs, including complex commercial litigation, mass tort defense, consumer class action defense, health care regulatory litigation, securities litigation, employment litigation, whistle-blower investigations and litigation and electronic discovery.

Rakesh Madhava is the CEO of Nextpoint.
Nextpoint (www.nextpoint.com) is a leader in delivering cloud computing technology and services to the legal industry. Under Rakesh’s leadership, Nextpoint has been retained by a number of Fortune 500 companies including ExxonMobil, Verizon, Morgan Stanley, Pfizer and AllState, and has delivered solutions for hundreds of litigators across the country, including over 25 of the firms comprising the 2009 AmLaw 100. Rakesh is a frequent speaker on the topics of cloud-computing and new technologies in litigation data management, and an avid participant in legal technology industry events. Rakesh has served as an adjunct lecturer at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University on new media topics. Some past presentations and articles include: When Do I Get My Jet Pack?, ACC Chicago Chapter Lunch Program (CLE Credit); Top 10 Trends in Litigation Technology, CALSM-posium 2009; Open Source Business Models for the 21st Century, 2008 Open Source Symposium and 10 Things You Should Know About Cloud Computing Security, LJN’s LegalTech Newsletter.

Thomas Matarelli is a Manager at Alvarez & Marsal, where he specializes in forensic analysis, data mining, and electronic discovery. With more than 16 years of IT and accounting systems experience, Mr. Matarelli assists law firms and corporate clients with the design and execution of customized eDiscovery and document reviews in support of investigations and complex commercial litigation.
Mr. Matarelli has developed innovative ways to reduce the number of false positives that yield from traditional search techniques and optimize the document workflow between attorneys and stakeholders to reduce the totals costs of document review.

Varun is a director for client services and corporate marketing at Clutch Group. Currently, Varun leads engagement teams for major financial services, software/IT and life sciences Fortune 500 companies that work with Clutch Group.
During his time at Clutch, Varun has led workflow overhaul, process improvement and cost savings initiatives for the legal departments of several major Fortune 50 corporations. These efforts have saved legal departments nearly $15 million since inception of the engagements and led to greater efficiencies among key stakeholders in the respective organizations.
In addition, Varun has managed global internal investigations relating to channel relationships, internal fraud, and bribery for several major Fortune 50 corporations.
Prior to joining Clutch Group, Varun served in the New Business Development & Technology Assessment department at Johnson & Johnson Corporation. In addition, Varun was founder and President of the Future Leaders Council, a grass roots organization promoting leadership, social responsibility and political engagement for Indian American youth. In this role, Varun managed 25 chapters with over 5000 members.
Varun holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University.

Christopher D. Mickus is a partner in Neal Gerber Eisenberg's Litigation Practice Group.
Christopher represents the firm's clients in litigation, arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution in connection with complex commercial cases. He is a trial lawyer and counselor. Before matters become the subject of litigation, he provides strategic advice and counseling to clients regarding potential disputes, options and alternatives. Christopher represents the firm's clients in cases involving allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, trade secret violations, computer fraud and abuse, copyright infringement, license-related disputes, professional negligence and other business torts. Christopher also has extensive experience with diverse, contested claims arising under general liability and professional liability insurance policies at both the primary and excess level, as well as reinsurance contracts.

Alison Miner recently joined Bridgeview Bank Group as General Counsel. Alison's role includes managing and overseeing all litigation matters involving BBG. Prior to joining BBG, Alison was a Litigation Partner for a mid- sized downtown Chicago law firm with more than 15 years of experience in commercial litigation, insurance coverage, complex commercial contracts and risk assessment. In Alison's litigation practice, she managed legal teams and coordinated litigation efforts which included investigation, discovery including e- Discovery, motion practice, settlement negotiations and trial/arbitration.

Trevor J. Morgan currently is the most senior member of FastLine Technology's professional staff, serving as the General Manager and Vice President. Morgan oversees the operations and development efforts at FastLine Technologies (a wholly owned affiliate of Altep, Inc.), which specializes in analytics-driven enterprise workflow solutions. He previously fulfilled product strategist roles at Altep.
Before joining FastLine Technologies and Altep, Morgan was both the Manager of Customer Programs and a Senior Solutions Architect at Content Analyst Company, a leading vendor of advanced analytics software for the litigation support industry. He has also worked at Cisco Systems and Integrated Research as a senior systems/sales engineer and at Convera directing the Federal Services Group within Federal Sales.
Morgan's professional interests include advanced analytics (data mining, search, and classification), distributed technologies, efficacy of social networking for industries and corporations, and the convergence of voice, video, and data technologies. He is also an avid researcher in the areas of professional management and organizational theory.

Nan R. Nolan was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois in 1998. She received her bachelor’s degree from Loyola University and her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. Magistrate Judge Nolan began her legal career as a staff attorney for the Federal Defender Program in Chicago, and then worked in private practice where she gained extensive experience handling complex criminal cases. She is a member of the Advisory Board for The Sedona Conference and a member of the Georgetown University Law Center E- Discovery Advisory Board. She is the chair of the E-Discovery Committee overseeing the Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program. Magistrate Judge Nolan regularly speaks on the topic of electronic discovery at conferences throughout the United States.

Jonathan Nystrom is an Executive Director in the Washington office of Ernst & Young's Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services practice. He oversees the technology-enhanced review and analytics services. Mr. Nystrom has more than twenty years experience working with corporations and their counsel to address discovery and information management issues related to finding key information and interpreting it in context.
Mr. Nystrom collaborates with accounting and legal professionals to develop and implement fact-finding and discovery strategies that leverage innovative technology in complex investigation and litigation matters. He was an early proponent of leveraging advanced information retrieval science in legal discovery, and has consistently pioneered new and improved applications of technology to help practitioners harvest, interpret, and manage complex information stores. His use of the technology- enhanced review service has saved over $100M in fees for clients since its introduction, and continues to evolve as it is integrated into the Ernst & Young discovery platform. Technology-enhanced review, and its companion services in behavioral analytics, is transforming the way corporations respond to subpoebas, legal document requests, and other inquiries by cutting costs and time while improving confidence inresults.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Nystrom founded Cataphora Legal, an innovation leader in the field of legal technology services. Mr. Nystrom directed Cataphora Legal for nine years. Prior to that, Mr. Nystrom held increasingly responsible positions in the legal technology services since his start at document imaging and mass storage pioneer Intrafed, Inc. Cataphora Legal was acquired by Ernst & Young in May 2011.

Patrick Oot is an experienced corporate attorney and co-founder of The Electronic Discovery Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to resolving litigation challenges by conducting studies of litigation processes for the benefit of the federal and state judiciary. Mr. Oot is also known for his former role as Director of Electronic Discovery and Senior Counsel at Verizon in Washington, DC.
He has extensive experience in discovery practices involving commercial litigation, regulatory filings, and antitrust matters where he was charged with advising Verizon's business units on electronic discovery while developing new technologies that increased cost-efficiency. In 2007, Mr. Oot appeared with United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at Georgetown University Law Center's H5 Summit on Electronic Discovery. Mr. Oot has testified before the United States Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence where he presented his position on Proposed Rule of Evidence 502. The Committee included in its draft to the Judicial Conference language incorporating Mr. Oot's suggestions.
Mr. Oot is a member of the advisory board for, ALM's LegalTech, The Georgetown University Law Center's Advanced Ediscovery Institute, and The Council on Litigation Management. Oot actively participates in The Sedona Conference's working groups; focusing on best practices in search and retrieval and the effective use of Federal Rule of Evidence 502. He is a member of the International Legal Technology Association, and has co-chaired Martindale-Hubble's Counsel to Counsel electronic discovery roundtables. Mr. Oot lectures regularly at educational events and legal conferences internationally, has appeared on National Public Radio's Morning Edition and was interviewed for the August 2008 edition of The Economist. He received both his B.A. and J.D. from Syracuse University and his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Aaron Patton is an eDiscovery Director at Precision Discovery LLC. His background includes database administration, eDiscovery technology development, and time as a litigator in New York, where he specialized in eDiscovery and document review process issues. He has significant experience in bridging the communications gap between law firms and technology vendors, as well as working with clients new to the eDiscovery process.

Ashish Prasad is the Founder and CEO of Discovery Services LLC, a document review and electronic discovery company. He is widely regarded as among the leading experts on discovery in the United States. He has served, among other things, as Litigation Partner, Founder and Chair of the Mayer Brown LLP Electronic Discovery and Records Management Group, Executive Editor of The Sedona Principles: Best Practices Recommendations & Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production (2004), Co-Editor in Chief of the Practicing Law Institute treatise Electronic Discovery Deskbook: Law and Practice (2009), Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University Law School, Chair of the Defense Research Institute Electronic Discovery Committee, and Chair of the Advisory Council of the National South Asian Bar Association.
In addition to having extensive experience in managing all aspects of discovery in litigation and investigations, Ashish has authored over a dozen articles and given over a hundred continuing legal education seminars, on topics of electronic discovery before judges, practicing lawyers and industry groups in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ashish is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review and the University of Michigan, where he graduated with High Honors and High Distinction.

Claire is an attorney in Reed Smith's Commercial and IP Litigation groups. Claire also serves as E-Discovery Counsel to one of the firm's major clients, a Fortune 50 company. She has experience counseling a variety of clients about various E-Discovery topics including preservation issues, document retention issues, and the technical aspects of e-discovery. Claire also counsels clients about privacy issues and has experience with the issues that arise from the conflict of US discovery practice and the European Union Directive on Data Privacy.

Dan is a managing director of Esicon and heads up its IT consulting practice. Dan is an attorney who has spent most of his career in consulting and operating positions, working in IT, Finance, Operations and Outsourcing for several large consulting firms, including Arthur Andersen and Navigant Consulting. He helps Esicon’s clients on litigation readiness planning and on all phases of e-discovery projects. His practice also includes expert testimony and consulting on IT management. Dan has extensive experience with some of the largest and most complex legal data exercises in the world, including tobacco litigation, the Enron matters and high profile criminal actions. He has led data and computer forensic teams responding to SEC, DOJ and OIG investigations. His data analytics experience includes matters of accounting fraud, internet/ecommerce disputes, bankruptcy, securities fraud, and labor and employment litigation. Dan has also consulted with in-house counsel on systems strategy, discovery strategy, records retention programs and matter management.
Dan received a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Illinois. Dan is a member of the Litigation and Criminal Law sections of the American Bar Association.

Jeffrey C. Sharer concentrates in litigation and SEC and PCAOB enforcement work on behalf of accounting firms and their members and in matters related to management and discovery of electronically stored information. He has substantial experience in complex litigation, including numerous class actions as well as shareholder derivative and individual claims, and has handled cases throughout the country involving allegations of securities fraud and common law fraud, claims of professional negligence, claims by liquidating trusts and similar entities, and other claims charging professional liability against accounting firms and their members, often obtaining dismissal or similarly favorable outcomes on behalf of his clients. Mr. Sharer also has represented other corporations and professional services firms in a variety of other complex commercial litigation matters in state and federal courts. Finally, Mr. Sharer has substantial experience representing accounting firms and other parties in state and federal appellate proceedings and has obtained several published opinions favorable to his clients in such matters.
Mr. Sharer also has substantial experience representing accounting firms and individuals in SEC and PCAOB investigations and enforcement proceedings. Recent engagements of this sort have included representation of a major accounting firm in an SEC investigation involving a large manufacturing company, as well as representations of other accounting firms and individual members of such firms in investigations by the SEC and PCAOB involving companies in the financial services, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, and other industries.
Finally, Mr. Sharer is a member of Sidley's Electronic Discovery Task Force and of the Sedona Conference, the nation’s leading nonpartisan law and policy think tank in the area of electronic discovery. Mr. Sharer is a frequent speaker on the subject of electronic discovery and frequently counsels clients on matters related to electronically stored information in both litigation and non-litigation contexts.

David B. Siarny, EnCE, is the Ediscovery Manager at Vedder Price. Formerly a member of Winston & Strawn's Ediscovery Support Services team, his more than 10 years of experience in the litigation support and ediscovery space also include vendor and on-site forensics acquisition. The Secretary of CALSM since 2009 and previously the membership committee co-chair of the Chicago chapter of ALSP, he has done considerable research on the impact of the internet on the ediscovery continuum. Mr. Siarny, who holds degrees in music and music theory from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Chicago, originally planned on teaching music theory at the college level. He taught entry-level music theory at UW-Madison as a graduate fellow and has written extensively and spoken on the music of 19th-century composer Antonin Dvorak, but his special interests in the interaction and meaning of algorithmic systems, music, music theory, and language have a surprising amount of relevance to today's topic.

Paul Starkman is the leader of Pedersen & Group. He has extensive experience counseling public and private employers on broad range of information management and e-discovery issues involving cloud computing. He also drafts and litigates agreements, policies, and transactions addressing cloud computing, software-as-service, the protection of trade secrets and confidential information, and social media.
Paul is a frequent author and speaker on the impact of social media in the workplace.

Tom Thompson is a trial lawyer at DLA Piper with significant experience resolving disputes in arbitrations and courts across the country. With a diverse range of experience in complex litigation and a pragmatic focus, Mr. Thompson represents clients ranging from global financial institutions to small software companies and individual executives. A member of the Electronic Discovery Readiness and Response group, he regularly counsels clients on cutting-edge electronic discovery and technology issues, including advanced search tools and methodologies to minimize the burden of e-discovery while efficiently identifying responsive and key documents.

Chris Toomey is a lawyer and MBA who has been immersed in e-discovery since its early beginnings. At Catalyst, he assembles teams of experienced, licensed attorneys to manage or support review efforts for Catalyst clients. He draw on sources from around the globe to deliver the most appropriate and cost-effective resources for each case. Chris is also Catalyst's director of alliances and channel development. Chris has been using e-discovery techniques for legal case assessment for nearly a decade. He has a track record of success in creating repeatable, defensible strategies. In multiple cases, his management of discovery efforts has helped uncover critical documents early in the process and helped avoid the need for a trial. Working hand-in-hand with Catalyst Consulting, Chris is able to combine technology, legal expertise and ingenuity to help clients redirect the review process for greater efficiency and more targeted results. Prior to joining Catalyst, Chris consulted on e-discovery strategy and attorney review services for corporations and law enforcement agencies. He managed consulting and review teams of more than 70 attorneys across multiple types of cases. Earlier, he established and managed a law firm with a base of more than 450 commercial and individual clients. Chris is a frequent speaker on topics including e-discovery, review strategy, early case assessment and deposition planning. He holds degrees from Providence College, Suffolk University Sawyer Business School, and Suffolk University Law School.

Martin T. Tully is a litigation partner with the Chicago office of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. He has comprehensive, national experience representing companies of various sizes in complex commercial litigation concerning a broad array of industries. As national practice chair of Katten’s Electronic Discovery & Evidence Practice, Martin also counsels clients on e-discovery preparedness and compliance, and recently served as the designated “e-discovery liaison” for a healthcare client in a major antitrust class action lawsuit. Martin is a member of the Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG1), the Seventh Circuit E-Discovery Pilot Program Committee, and co-chairs the Trial Practice/Courtroom Technology sub-committee of the Technology for the Litigator Committee of the ABA Section of Litigation. He is a frequent speaker in the areas of e-discovery and digital evidence.

George Tziahanas is Autonomy's Global Head for Legal and Compliance Solutions. Responsibilities solution design and oversight for Autonomy's Regulatory Archiving, Supervision and Surveillance, Investigation, eDiscovery, and information governance solutions. His duties also include leading Marketing for the Protect business at Autonomy.
On an individual basis, Mr. Tziahanas works closely with regulated entities on their compliance obligations, in particular financial services organizations. He also writes and speaks broadly on the implications of emerging technologies on corporate information environments. Prior to joining Autonomy, Mr. Tziahanas held leadership positions with Orchestria, Iron Mountain, and Intel Corporation.
Mr. Tziahanas holds an M.S. in Molecular Systematics and Biological Sciences, and a Juris Doctor from DePaul University. He is admitted to The Bar in the State of Illinois, and the Federal District for the Northern District of Illinois.

Mark Williams is Senior Vice President of Managed Discovery and Head of LawyerLink. He joined Axiom after an 18 year stint at DLA Piper. Mark, who was a Partner in the Corporate & Finance group, holds an MBA (University of Maryland / Beijing University for International Business and Economics) , M.Sc. (The London School of Economics), and a JD (Columbia Law) and is an experienced entrepreneur and team builder. During his 4 years in China, he built a team of 150 people and created a brand presence for DLA before heading to Qatar to start a DLA office. Mark was previously hiring partner at DLA Piper in Chicago. Mark also was one of the founders of an India based LPO, and he has lived and worked in England, Spain, South Africa, Thailand and Korea.